Buying Time 2014 - Tennessee

This page features Tennessee Supreme Court television advertisements from the 2014 election cycle.

August 7, 2014

Three of Tennessee’s five supreme court justices were up for retention in 2014. Tennessee governors appoint supreme court justices for their first term and they subsequently sit for retention elections every eight years. Chief Justice Gary Wade, Justice Cornelia Clark, and Justice Sharon Lee participated in the retention race on August 7. In previous retention elections, none of the three raised or spent any money. However, this year, Republican Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey launched a statewide campaign to oust the three justices, originally appointed by a Democratic governor. The three justices created a coordinated campaign, called Keep Tennessee Courts Fair, to counter the attacks against their retention and raise funds.

Methodology

All data on ad airings and spending on ads are calculated and prepared by Kantar Media/CMAG, which captures satellite data in the nation’s largest media markets. CMAG’s estimates do not reflect ad agency commissions or the costs of producing advertisements, nor do they reflect the cost of ad buys on local cable channels. Cost estimates are revised by Kantar Media/CMAG when it receives updated data, resulting in some fluctuations in the reported ad spending.